Spotlight - 13.2019

TRAVEL 13/2019 Spotlight 27

Foto: Paul Wheatley

TRAVEL

A Viking visit to Ireland

Die Wikinger haben in Irland viele Spuren ihrer Seefahrerkultur hinterlassen:

Waffen, Spiele, Befestigungsanlagen. Eines ihrer schönsten Geschenke an die Grüne Insel

ist die älteste Stadt, Waterford – und ein Platz am Fernsehhimmel.

PAUL WHEATLEY berichtet.

MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS

It’s not just raining on my arrival in

Waterford, it’s also blowing a gale for

good measure. Just the sort of weather

you might expect from a place whose

name comes from the old Norse for

“windy fjord”. Waterford is my starting

point for a Viking-themed trip along Ire-

land’s south-east coast. A greeting of rain

and dark skies isn’t exactly my idea of

fun, but on the other hand, my plans for

a three-day stay are exciting, and surely,

the rain will stop — eventually.

Thanks to its Viking forefathers,

Waterford is Ireland’s oldest city.

Lo cated around 170 kilometres from

Dublin and about 24 kilometres from

Ireland’s south-east coast, it’s now home

to 50,000 people. In 914, Vikings from

Norway chose this protected spot on

the River Suir as an easily defendable

settlement site for a longphort, or “ship

camp”. Today, more than 1,000 years later,

Waterford is one of Ireland’s best-loved

tourist destinations — for good reason.

eventually [I(ventSuEli]

, hier: irgendwann

forefather [(fO:)fA:DE]

, Vo r f a h r, Ah n

gale [geI&l]

, Sturm

measure: for good ~

[(meZE]

, obendrein

Norse [nO:s]

, Altnordisch